Question #382

What about all the verses that don’t mention baptism?

Here are a few Scriptures that tell the SIMPLE story of the gift of salvation; John 1;12,Acts 13;39,Acts 16;31,Rom 3;22,Rom 4;11,24 Rom 10;9 1 Cor 1;21 Gal 2;22 Heb 10;39 1Jh 5;13 Acts !3;48 Acts 14;23 Rom 4;3 Gal 2;16 Gal 3;6 Eph 1;13 James 2;23 Acts 6;14 Jh 11;25,26 Jh 3;15,16,18,36 Jh 5;24 Jh 6;35,40,47 Jh 7;38 Jh 11;26 Jh 12;46 Acts 10;43 Rom 1;16 Rom 3;26 Rom 4;5 Rom 9;33 Rom 10;4 Rom 10;10 1Jh 5;1,5,10 Jh 20;31 Help me to understand that believing in these scriptures listed above do not include baptism. Example: Jonn 3;15 That whoever believeth in Him(and is baptized) should not perish,but have eternal life. John 3:15 are the very words of Jesus him self.Shall we add and is "baptized" so we can have eternal life.I'm going to take Jesus's word for it.

The Answer:

It is tempting to not answer this question since all of the passages listed have been discussed in these answers at one time or another. Apparently the inquirer does not want to study the issue by studying the material on this website that relates to and answers his inquiry. He simply wants to make a long list of scriptures that he believes support his position that baptism is not essential to salvation. The foolishness of his approach is demonstrated in several ways.

1. He doesn’t even attempt to justify the conclusion that he reached allegedly based upon the verses listed. A reasoning person would take each verse, discuss it in context and in light of the teaching of all scripture related to forgiveness and the remission of sins.

2. He makes the illogical and tragic mistake of trying to establish what baptism is not for by listing verses that speak to faith and make no mention of baptism at all. Would he be so foolish as to attempt to establish what cars are not for by reading only information relating to horses? Probably not, but that does show how false his approach and his premise are.

3. He makes the logical error of reaching a conclusion that is not supported by a single verse in his list. His position is that man is saved by faith alone and not a single verse in his list uses that expression. While one is tempted to say that there is no verse anywhere else in scripture that uses the expression “faith only,” however that is not true. It is true that there is no verse anywhere else in scripture that the expression “faith only” in a positive sense. The one verse where the expression has a “not” in front of it – “not by faith only” (James 2:24).

4. He makes the mistake of completely ignoring passages that address baptism and its purpose, and makes no attempt to reconcile them. Could it be that, having his mind made up, he doesn’t want to be confronted with the facts?

5. Finally, and eternally harmful, is that fact that he does not believe the words of Jesus. He wants to know if we should add “and is baptized” to the statements of Jesus. He asks that question because he knows that adding to scripture is a phrase that will create bias since adding to scripture is prohibited. On the other hand, so is taking away from scripture. Both of us believe that both adding to and taking away from scripture is wrong. The question is who is guilty of that error. Mark 16:15-16 clearly demonstrates that it is our inquirer: “15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” It is Jesus who added “and is baptized.” One who does not believe could not be baptized if he would and would not be baptized if he could. Unfortunately, our inquirer falls into this category. He reminds me of a lady with whom I had a conversation at a booth sponsored by New Testament Christians at the New York “World’s Fair.” She also believed that salvation was by “faith only” and that baptism was not necessary. I suggested that 1 Peter 3:21 spoke only of baptism in relation with salvation, and that what we needed to do was not to create a contradiction between verses on faith and verses on baptism, but to reconcile them as Jesus did in Mark 16 when he said that “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” She responded that Jesus did not say that. I handed her a Bible, asked her to turn to Mark 16, and read. Having read it aloud she asserted, “That is just your opinion.” I reminded her that I had not said a word, but that she had read the passage and reached the conclusion on her own. She handed me the Bible and responded as she walked away, “I don’t care.” That is where our inquirer stands – he has his mind made up and he doesn’t care! The last part of Jesus statement in Mark 16:16 applies to him – “He that believeth not shall be damned (condemned).” His statement that he will “take Jesus word for it” is far from true. He has taken his own word and it is only upon his own word that he depends for his eternal salvation.